St. Jude Medical Center | St. Joseph Health System
WE CAN! is an interactive education program that uses a family approach to promote healthy weight and active lifestyles for kids and parents. In a fun environment, both kids and parents will learn skills to make healthy food choices, become more physically active, and reduce recreational screen time.
Designed for families with children ages 7 and over, this four-week program uses active games and interactive lessons to help kids make healthy choices. Separately, parents get tips, tools and information on what changes are worth making and how to accomplish it. Class meets once a week for 90 minutes.
For more information or to register, call (800) 870-7537.
Every 45 seconds someone in the U.S. will experience a stroke. The key to recovery is to recognize the signs and symptoms and call 911.
Elaine Bagger always looks forward to babysitting her three grandchildren. Taking care of Sara, Blake and Ireland is the highlight of her day, but this visit was going to be different. Soon after they arrived the grandkids noticed their grandmother was unable to speak, they decided to call for help, but first 5-year-old Ireland said, "Let's say a prayer." They prayed and called 911.
The 82-year-old was rushed by ambulance to St. Jude Medical Center, one of Orange County's few Stroke Receiving Centers. Upon arrival she was immediately given tPA, a clot-busting drug that dissolved the blockage in her brain, allowing oxygen-rich blood to travel freely and prevent vital brain tissue from dying.
Experts in stroke care will tell you that "time is brain," meaning it's vital to restore blood flow as quickly as possible to reverse or diminish the damage caused by stroke. Unfortunately, fewer than one in five stroke victims arrive at a hospital within three hours—the ideal treatment window. That's largely why, in spite of remarkable treatment advances, stroke remains one of the country’s leading causes of death and disability.
A majority of strokes, like Elaine's, are "ischemic" in which an artery to the brain is blocked. Symptoms are often sudden and can include numbness or weakness of an arm or leg (especially on one side of the body), trouble speaking or understanding speech, changes in vision, difficulty walking or dizziness. According to Anthony Ciabarra, M.D., Co-Director of the St. Jude Medical Center Stroke Program, less common is a "hemorrhagic" stroke in which an artery in the brain weakens or bursts, causing bleeding into the brain tissue. Symptoms of this type of stroke include a severe headache, nausea, vomiting, possibly a seizure and loss of consciousness.
The symptoms of a stroke are distinct because they happen quickly. It is important to know how to recognize a stroke. Use the FAST method:
"Many people make the mistake of lying down and waiting to see if the symptoms disappear," explains Dr. Ciabarra, a board certified neurologist. "With a stroke, every minute that passes is brain lost."
After successfully treating and stabilizing Elaine, the stroke team at St. Jude began helping her rebuild lost abilities through highly intensive physical, occupational and speech therapy. The result? Today, Elaine is returning to the activities she loves, including babysitting.
To learn more about our program click here or call (714) 446-5539.
A Symbol of Excellence
St. Jude Medical Center has earned the Certificate of Distinction for Primary Stroke Centers, a nationally recognized honor. The distinction—awarded by The Joint Commission, the nation's largest and most respected accrediting body—acknowledges St. Jude's exceptional efforts to create better outcomes. The honor was awarded after an extensive onsite review of the medical center's stroke services.
Click here for more information on our Stroke Program.
Newest treatment options combined with the broadest possible range of treatment services
Today, Karen is able to maintain a beautiful cut-flower garden, walk her new dog Maggie, and see movies with her fiancé Larry. While the underlying ailment remains, the 59-year-old now understands how to control it: her pain rating settles between three and four instead of its former top-of-the-scale nine or 10.
Diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic migraine headaches, Karen Hoye’s world was one of pain. She lost count of the number and type of physicians she saw, but they all seemed to offer the same solution: pills. Spending 22-23 hours a day in bed and addicted to powerful narcotics, Karen watched her successful organic farm and once-full life disappear.
And then she heard about St. Jude Medical Center’s innovative Chronic Pain Center. “Their approach was so different from anything else,” says Karen, who lives in Santa Cruz County. “The first time I talked to them, I felt something I wasn’t sure I would ever feel again: hope.”
Karen temporarily relocated to Fullerton and St. Jude’s multidisciplinary team of pain specialists began targeting both the physical and psychological effects of her pain. Over the next several months, a highly individualized program—including services ranging from physical and occupational therapy to biofeedback, counseling and support groups—would give Karen, in her words, “a whole new life.”
Hundreds of patients like Karen, ages eight to 90, have come to the St. Jude Chronic Pain Center to regain their lives. With conditions that range from debilitating headaches to severe back pain, they have learned first-hand how the highly effective program has become one of California’s most respected.
While most pain management programs focus just on medications, St. Jude’s comprehensive approach involves specialists from nutrition, pharmacy, interventional anesthesiology, clinical psychology, rehabilitation medicine and others. “What we offer patients is completely unique,” explains Cynthia Crane, Manager. “The newest treatment options combined with the broadest possible range of services allow us to successfully help patients that no one else can.”
The St. Jude Chronic Pain Center has been accredited by CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities), which is a distinction held by only two facilities in the state of California. We are also the only accredited children and adolescent program in California for ages eight and over. For more information about the St. Jude Chronic Pain Center, please call (714) 578-8716.
Click here for more information on our Chronic Pain Center.
